Opinion | The Senate’s Supreme Court Subpoena Games

Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin has reached the age and tenure at which he might fancy himself a Lion of the Senate, but what a joke after his grubby power play Thursday in the Judiciary Committee. In a rush of rule-breaking at the end of a meeting, Mr. Durbin moved to bluster through subpoenas for two friends of Supreme Court Justices on a partisan vote.

This is part of a Democratic political campaign to portray the High Court as a trinket bought by billionaires. Without finding any substantive legal conflict of interest, the press has played up reports that Justice Clarence Thomas took vacations with an old friend, Harlan Crow. “The pair have become genuine friends, according to people who know both men,” as even the left-leaning ProPublica admitted. Under the rules at the time, such travel by Justices did not have to be disclosed.